Household Food Security in the United States, 2009

What Is the Issue?

Most U.S. households have consistent, dependable access to
enough food for active, healthy living- they are food secure. But a
minority of American households experience food insecurity at times
during the year, meaning that their access to adequate food is
limited by lack of money and other resources. Food and nutrition
assistance programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
increase food security by providing low-income households access to
food, a healthful diet, and nutrition education. Reliable
monitoring of food security contributes to the effective operation
of these programs and other government initiatives aimed at
reducing food insecurity, as well as private food assistance
programs. USDA monitors the extent and severity of food insecurity
in U.S. households through an annual, nationally representative
survey. This report presents results from the survey-statistics on
households' food security, food expenditures, and use of food and
nutrition assistance programs in 2009.

What Did the Study Find?

The food security of U.S. households, when measured over the
entire year, remained essentially unchanged from 2008 to 2009, with
the prevalence of food insecurity at each level of severity
remaining at the highest percentage observed since nationally
representative food security surveys began in 1995. However, during
the final 30 days covered by the 2009 survey, food insecurity in
the severe range (described as very low food security) was somewhat
less prevalent than during the corresponding period in 2008.
Following are some of the main findings of the report:

• In 2009, 85.3 percent of U.S. households were food secure
throughout the year. The remaining 14.7 percent (17.4 million
households) were food insecure, essentially unchanged from 14.6
percent in 2008. Food-insecure households had difficulty at some
time during the year providing enough food for all their members
due to a lack of resources. About a third of food-insecure
households (6.8 million households, or 5.7 percent of all U.S.
households) had very low food security, a severe range of food
insecurity in which the food intake of some household members was
reduced and normal eating patterns were disrupted due to limited
resources. The prevalence of very low food security was unchanged
from 2008.

• In the final 30-day period covered by the 2009 survey-from
mid-November to mid- December-3.3 percent of households had very
low food security, down from 3.6 percent during the corresponding
period in 2008. Improvements were most notable for low-income
households, households with children, Black non-Hispanic
households, and households in the Northeast Census region.

• Children were food insecure at times during the year in 4.2
million households (10.6 percent of households with children).
Although children are usually shielded from disrupted eating
patterns and reduced food intake, children along with adults
experienced instances of very low food security in 469,000
households (1.2 percent of households with children) in 2009,
essentially unchanged from 1.3 percent in 2008.

• On a given day, the number of households with very low food
security was a small fraction of the number that experienced this
condition "at some time during the year." Typically, households
classified as having very low food security experienced the
condition in 7 months of the year, for a few days in each of those
months.

• Rates of food insecurity were substantially higher than the
national average among households with incomes near or below the
Federal poverty line, among households with children headed by
single parents, and among Black and
Hispanic households.

• Food insecurity was more common in large cities than in rural
areas and in suburbs and other outlying areas around large
cities.

• The typical (median) food-secure household spent 33 percent
more for food than the typical food-insecure household of the same
size and composition.

• Fifty-seven percent of food-insecure households in the survey
reported that in the previous month they had participated in one or
more of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance
programs.

How Was the Study Conducted?

Data for the ERS food security reports come from an annual
survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau as a supplement to the
monthly Current Population Survey. USDA sponsors the annual survey,
and USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) compiles and analyzes
the responses. The 2009 food security survey covered about 46,000
households comprising a representative sample of the U.S. civilian
population of 118 million households. The food security survey
asked one adult respondent in each household a series of questions
about experiences and behaviors that indicate food insecurity, such
as being unable, at times, to afford balanced meals, cutting the
size of meals because of too little money for food, or being hungry
because of too little money for food. The food security status of
the household was assigned based on the number of food-insecure
conditions reported.